Searching for Roy G Biv 4: PINK Update #5

Orchids in November morning light.

Welcome to the next installment of the Search for Roy G Biv (the colors of the rainbow). We are continuing beyond the rainbow this month with the color PINK. Here's what I found...

Fuzzy pink.

Healthy pinks

Pink Speedy Carve blocks...my favorite brand to carve!

Poppy's purple and pink pup!

Once again, I'm surprised that PINK is a regular visitor to my creative exploits (well...mostly HOT PINK!).

Resist prints with leaves from Julie B Booth Surface Design News #30.

Tropical pinks using turnips and carrots printed for a Printed Fabric Bee Challenge.

Hot glue pinks...a technique being featured in one of my QATV segments next year.

Day of the Dead pinks (veggie prints and stencils) from my recent book signing in Frederick, MD

Hope you will join in the fun this month by posting up to five PINK photos on your blog and leaving a comment here or on Jennifer Coyne Qudeen's blog. I'll continue to update this post through Saturday. Be sure to check out the PINK entries below:

 Margaret at Charlton Stitcher has posted some "travelling PINKS". The last two photos are truly spectacular!

 Jennifer has found plenty of signs of PINK this month, both urban and suburban.

Fiona at Paper Ponderings has a wonderful quote about old books and a beautiful photo of one that she encountered in Japan with just a hint of PINK.

Roxanne Lasky posted some popping PINKS today...check them out!

Maya at Take Diversion has some very unexpected PINKS!

Susan and Elizabeth at PGFiber2Art have cheery PINKS this month.

Lisa at arzigogolare is thinking fondly of PINK with bouquets of peonies.

Sharmon Davidson has floral PINKS in every shade! I especially love those cone flowers.

Fran at At the End of the Day has poetic and powerful PINKS.

Mary Ann at Blue Sky Dreaming found family PINKS. I love the idea of the wedding scroll!

Linda Stokes has some artistic PINKS this month and some will be appearing in her "Gifted" show.





The final installment of Roy is December 17th and it is a Blogger's Choice. Hope you will join in next month...Jennifer and I are taking a break from Roy after that. It's been a great run!

Roy Reminder...PINK This Thursday!

Sorry to be so late with this reminder....have you noticed that time is flying by? The thought that Thanksgiving is next week is really blowing my mind! And Hanukkah starts the night of  December 6th...YIKES!

But I digress...Here is your reminder that this Thursday, November 19th, it's once again time to go on the search for Roy (as in Roy G Biv, the colors of the rainbow). We have moved beyond the rainbow and this month the search brings us to PINK.

If you'd like to play along, all you have to do is post up to five PINK photos on your blog this Thursday and leave a comment on my or my cohort, Jennifer Coyne Qudeen's blog. We'll link to your post so all those playing can see your entries. It's lots of fun so hope you join in!

Thick and Thin...Following a Thread

So....following a thought thread from my previous post, I decided to play a little bit more with thick and thin lines of stitching using back stitch, stem stitch, and running stitch. This is in preparation for the Hand Stitching class I'll be teaching in January and February.

This time, I stitched with strands of white DMC floss on two layers of black cotton. First I drew a 4" square image area and divided it into quarters. I then drew a circle in each square.  I marked parallel stitching guidelines approximately 1/8" apart in each square. I used one strand of DMC floss for the "thin" lines and four strands for the "thick" lines.

Starting with running stitch, I stitched the background with the single strand of floss and the circle design with the four strands. I tried to have the lines of running stitch line up vertically to form columns of stitches. I really like the subtle "appearance" of the circle and that the further away I hold the piece, the more defined the circle becomes (sort of like a Pointillist painting!).

Running stitch. I tried to have the stitches line up in columns.

For the next square, I stitched the background in a thick stem stitch and the circle using only the single strand.

Stem stitch (left square)

Then it was back stitch, with the background stitched in a single strand and the circle with four strands.

Back stitch top left.

For the final square, I returned to running stitch. This time, the stitches in each line alternate (sort of like a brick wall), with the background stitched with four strands and the circle with one.

Running stitch alternating stitches with each row.

After creating this sample...a whole lot of  what ifs exploded in my brain!!!

I wish I had several more pairs of hands to stitch all my ideas! I'm glad that I'm keeping a journal to jot them down. But...I have to keep in mind that I need more class samples that cover a number of topics such as stitch length and angle etc. The funny thing is...I could probably teach an entire class using just the running stitch...there are so many possibilities!

If you live in the Washington DC area, registration for the Hand Stitching class starts at 9:30 AM on this coming Monday, November 9th!

Humble Beginnings

This week, I finally started working on some samples for my upcoming Hand Stitching class. I've had lots of thoughts bopping around in my head (and I've gotten many of those down on paper) but for some reason I just wasn't sitting down and starting to make samples.

I decided to start by reintroducing myself to three basic stitches that I use a lot in my work...back stitch, stem stitch and running stitch. One thing I really want to do is set limits...both in size and color. So, I am trying to stick with black and white to start. These samples use black DMC floss on a slightly off-white Prepared for Dyeing Kona cotton. I also have black cotton and will use white floss. And...I'll probably try white stitching on white cloth and black stitching on the black cloth. I do want to try out some different fabrics....linen, silk, felt and maybe a sheer of some kind. The students will have the chance to paint and print (black and white) some designs during the first session...just for some variety.

Back stitch: Changing the thickness of the lines.

But getting back to these samples... I focused on thick versus thin so I stitched lines that gradually used fewer strands of floss. I tried to keep the stitches pretty uniform in length. Stitching the lines using 5 and 6 strands was not very easy (especially trying to keep an even tension as I worked) and I think that the weave of this cotton may be too tight to comfortably accommodate that many strands. The linen and felt will probably work much better (more samples to come!). Even doing these simple  samples has got me thinking...about designs with lines that become thick and thin. I want to try that next. And then I want to think about and explore the concept of line. Using descriptors for lines...and then trying to stitch them (for example...can a line be angry?).

Stem stitch: Changing the thickness of the lines.

Running stitch: Changing the thickness of the lines.

So this is the humble start...

Lots of Print-A-Bag and Book Signing Fun at The Muse in Frederick

I had such fun yesterday afternoon at the wonderful art and fine craft shop, The Muse, in Frederick, Maryland. Along with signing copies of Fabric Printing at Home, I had a make and take printed canvas goodie/book bag project. First, I demoed how to carve and print with a variety of veggies. Many people were surprised to see how turnips, radishes, and carrots could be turned into print blocks. And rolled corn prints are always a big hit! I also had some carved Speedy Carve blocks on hand and a few hot glue blocks too.

Fortunately, many people were not shy about getting a little paint on their hands! I was delighted that some younger folks also joined in. Here are some of the results...

 

The Muse will be carrying Fabric Printing at Home through the holiday season...in case you missed out on yesterday's fun. The book makes a great holiday gift for the craftsy people (including young ones) on your list!

Thanks again Whitney for being such a wonderful host!

Meet Me at The Muse...Book Signing, Demos and Print-A-Bag Fun!

Here are some samples of the "make and take" book/goodie bag project I'll be offering this Saturday at The Muse.

I spent yesterday in the studio prepping for this Saturday's event at The Muse in Frederick, Maryland. I had fun carving and printing with veggies, designing some Day of the Dead freezer paper stencils and creating a series of festive goodie bags!

Day of the Dead bag design #1: Skull is created with freezer paper stencils. Flowers are carved from turnip slices.

Day of the Dead bag design #2: Pink skull created with a freezer paper stencil. Details on skull printed with carved carrots.

Mola Cat bag design: Masking tape mask to create the blue background then textured with a carved carrot. Cat carved out of Speedball Speedy Carve.

I used masking tape to divide up the printing areas, then painted the exposed areas and printed with hot glue on cardboard blocks.

A quick and easy design using a carved cross-section of a carrot.

I'll be at The Muse signing copies of my book, Fabric Printing at Home, demoing a number of printing techniques and offering the opportunity for the first twenty guests to create their own make and take Halloween goodie/book bag (which coincidentally is the perfect size in which to carry a copy of my book!)

A perfect fit!

If you happen to live nearby...I hope you'll stop by and say "Hi" and maybe have a go at printing up your own bag!

Saturday, October 24  1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
The Muse
19 North Market Street
Frederick, MD 21701
(301) 663-3632

October Stitch-In

Zita hand stitched to emphasize the rectangular shapes in this piece by her friend.

We had a nice turnout for today's Stitch-In...six of us and lots of interesting projects and discussions.

Zita S. made it for her first time and it was so great to see her. She brought along a very special piece to work on. It was an eco-dyed and hand felted piece that her dear friend Sharon J. had made. Sharon passed away unexpectedly at the very end of last year and our guild recently had a trunk show sale of her work to raise money. Zita purchased the box labeled "India Flint" (Sharon took a class with India) and found this piece at the very bottom of the box. Zita says that Sharon was never really "into" hand stitching...so Zita is going to continue to work on the piece...hand stitching it a bit at a time. What an amazing way to feel connected to her friend (reminds me of how connected I feel when I stitch on my Dad's letter).

Zita plans to take her time hand stitching areas of this eco-dyed piece.

Ann Z. brought along Buffalo Boy's head (a sock) to stitch. I had to laugh...she was using a maraca as a darning egg to help stitch through the sock (ingenious!).

Buffalo Boy's head.

Ann also brought this in-process piece. She is trying to decide how to finish the bottom half of the piece.

Cheryl is following up on her Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year's) resolution to complete pieces. She brought in this luscious knitted scarf that she started a while back. It may go to a friend.

Cheryl also brought in a gorgeous silk scarf created by Ellen Hoverkamp using a high resolution scan of vegetables. It reminded all of us of Dutch still life paintings.

Detail of a scarf by Ellen Hoverkamp.

Alice H. brought in one of her shibori pieces to stitch on. She is painstakingly stitching her fabric to resist the dye she'll later paint on it. I just love the texture!

Barbara M-C brought in a number of things to share. She's been working on a series of cloth dolls symbolizing her childhood (she's posted some on Facebook and I believe is now selling some on Etsy). This one was influenced by the traditional Hungarian clothing her grandmother would sometimes wear.

Detail of hand stitched motifs on the dress.

She also brought a cloth and paper book she created using some of her fabrics from the Story Cloth class and handmade papers from her friend's collection.

And here is a piece she's started using some of her indigo dyed fabric. The theme is "day and night".

I was hoping to stitch on my Dad's letter but I'm waiting for a skein of hand-dyed thread to arrive (probably tomorrow). In the meantime, I started setting up a new piece about my Dad...a great story that my brother told me. I spent some time on Friday going through a folder of family photos and reading through stories my siblings shared with me about Dad. I think that there is really a wealth of inspiration and I'm looking forward to working on a number of pieces about family.